The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy novel published in three parts by J.R.R. Tolkien between 1954 and 1955. It tells the story of a magic ring forged in evil to command the inhabitants of a fantasy land called Middle Earth, and the journey of those who would stand against it. References * A sketch known as "Monster Eats Machine" performed on The Ed Sullivan Show was written with a fair amount of nonsense technical speak. As such, several jokes and references were tossed into the dialogue. Lewis Carroll's mome raths are mentioned along with the phrase "Gandalf pentameter," a reference to the wizard Gandalf in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. * In Muppet King Arthur #3, Sir Percival (Fozzie Bear) urges King Arthur (Kermit the Frog) to let his nephew Mordred (Robin the Frog) come along on a quest for the Holy Grail. Merlin (Rowlf the Dog) agrees saying, "Yeah, it's not like we're hiking into Mordor to throw a ring into a volcano." * A Cookie's Crumby Pictures spoofs the saga with Cookie Monster as Gobble (in the role of Gollum). A recipe for "one dessert to rule them all" stands in for the One Ring, Gobble converses with himself (à la Gollum and Smeagol), and he interacts with Muppet parodies of Galadriel (performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) and Gandalf (performed by Matt Vogel). The sketch was complemented by a game on sesamestreet.org http://www.sesamestreet.org/games?id=220 * A Word of the Day segment with Ian McKellen and Cookie Monster on the word "resist" has McKellen trying to better explain the word to Cookie Monster by pulling out the One Ring and describing it as "your precious" and that if he could control himself and not go near it, that would be "resisting". Mentions * Weta Digital provided CGI characters for Peter Jackson's film version of the trilogy. During production of the second film, digital stand-ins were required for the all-CGI character Gollum who would interact with live actors. For some scenes, Kermit the Frog was used in Gollum's place as a joke by the animators. Footage of Kermit as Gollum was shown during the 2003 Game Developers Conference. Connections * John Bach played Madril in The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003) and was the photo double for Saruman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * Sean Bean played Boromir in all three Peter Jackson films * Theodore Bikel played Aragorn in the 1980 Rankin/Bass version of The Return of the King * Paul Brooke played Grima Wormtongue in the 1981 BBC Radio drama * David Buck played Gimli in the 1978 animated film * Billy Connolly played Dain Ironfoot in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) * Benedict Cumberbatch played Smaug and the Necromancer in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and sequels * Anthony Daniels played Legolas in the 1978 animated film * Renée Fleming performed on the soundtrack for The Return of the King (2003) * Stephen Fry played the Master of Laketown in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) * Martin Freeman played young Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and sequels * Stephen Garlick played additional voices in the 1981 BBC Radio drama * Ian Holm played Frodo Baggins in the 1981 BBC Radio drama and old Bilbo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Return of the King (2003), and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * Michael Hordern played Gandalf in the 1981 BBC Radio drama * Barry Humphries played the Great Goblin in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * John Hurt played Aragorn in the 1978 animated film * Anthony Jackson played the tale bearer in The Hobbit (1968 BBC radio serial) * Casey Kasem played Merry in the 1980 Rankin/Bass version of The Return of the King * Michael Kilgarriff wrote the adaptation of The Hobbit (1968 BBC radio serial) * Tommy Madden was a rotoscoped actor, for hobbits and other characters, in the 1978 animated film * Ian McKellen played Gandalf in the Peter Jackson trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014) * Bret McKenzie played an elf in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Return of the King (2003) and Linder in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * Bill Nighy played Sam in the 1981 BBC Radio drama * Andy Serkis played Gollum/Smeagol in all three Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * Kiran Shah was a scale double for the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), The Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014), and played a goblin scribe in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) * Bruce Spence played the Mouth of Sauron in The Return of the King (2003, extended edition) * Manfred Steffen played Gandalf in a 1992 German radio serial * Robert Stephens played Aragorn in the 1981 BBC Radio drama * John Stephenson played various roles in the 1980 Rankin/Bass version of The Return of the King * Joel Tobeck played an orc lieutenant in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) * Hugo Weaving played Elrond in all three Peter Jackson films and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) See also * The Muppet Show in Ham's Deep __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Literary References Category:Movie Mentions